ZAR Universal Network (ZARU) is a rand-backed stablecoin, a digital token designed to hold a value of one South African rand. It launched in February 2026 through a collaboration between Luno, Sanlam, EasyEquities and Lesaka, and is issued by BlockTower under a licence from the Financial Sector Conduct Authority. Each ZARU is backed by rand-denominated reserves, including cash, bank deposits and South African government bonds. Sanlam Specialised Asset Management manages the reserves, Standard Bank acts as banker, and Moore Johannesburg audits them every month. Because ZARU runs on blockchains such as Solana, it can be sent and settled at any time of day, which suits payments, transfers and trading against other digital assets. ZARU is also live on Arc, Circle's blockchain, where it is a founding currency pair on Circle's StableFX foreign exchange platform and trades against USDC. ZARU can be bought and sold on Luno, and it can also be traded on the Luno exchange. Stablecoins carry risks, so it helps to understand how the reserves and the peg work before holding one.